Stroping your heads

[Shleprock]

How do you do it?

[Fletcher]

Two methods.  At home, I use a drill with a buffing wheel and jewelers rouge.  On the road, I have a strip of leather glued to a flat stick about 1"x12".  The leather is rubbed down very well with the rouge.  Either way, work AWAY from the edge.  With the drill, keep the speed and pressure down to prevent heat buildup; that edge is quite thin.

[Shleprock]

"work AWAY from the edge"
If you are stroping a WW can you draw the head backward on the strop? So the blade maintains the proper angle. Or do you hold it in a way that your only doing one edge at a time and working away from the edge? I have the 200 gn elites and without much work they are scary sharp. A light touch and a draw and it took a quarter size patch of hair right off my arm.

[Shleprock]

ttt

[Charlie Lamb]

Draw the WW backwards on your stropping material...thin hard leather glued to a board or cereal box cardboard layed on a flat surface.

[snag]

Cardboard works good too. Ron at KME turned me onto that.

[ranger 3]

I second the cardboard

[Stumpknocker]

The backside of my leather belt has always worked for me..

[wollelybugger]

Stropping will not make your broadhead sharper but will maintain your edge.

[Guru]

I don't know WB, I believe it does....at least when I do mine it gets them to another level of sharpness.

Re-doing it will help maintain, but initially it will make a BH "sharper"...

[Red Beastmaster]

I just finished sharpening my Zwickey Eskimo's an hour ago. I used the Tru Angle files then finished with stropping on the suede side of a piece of leather. It takes the thin sliver off the edge and really gets them sharp.

I'll give them a good stropping half way through the season to maintain the edge.

My buddy is a custom knife maker and uses a leather strop on all his knives before each show. I too was a doubter, he proved to me that it can indeed make them sharper.

[ozy clint]

i strop mine on my leather armguard.

[wollelybugger]

Canvas side of the strop will sharpen and align but the leather side will just maintain. It does feel sharper because it is removing the rough edge or finishing the edge.  Old Barber Teacher here, horse hide from the rump makes the best strop. I used to strop my razors after each shave and the edge would last for a dozen shaves. When you strop the  edge you are sharpening should be facing back from you when you pull it down and reverse pulling it up. Keep a constant pressure. If you lead with the edge you can cut your strop.

[BD]

It makes mine sharper.

[DVSHUNTER]

I always just use my old belt and it gets em shaving sharp on my 190 grizzleys.

[Sam McMichael]

I use an old leather strop that my grandfather used in his shoe shop close to 100 years ago. It is just 2 pieces of harness leather tacked to a thin board and has finished off some of the sharpest edges I ever expect to see. I always pull the edge "backwards" with the sharp side facing away from me. I don't use many strokes, just enough to work off the small burr that developes on the edge of a finely honed blade. This finishes off the cutting surface, leaving a blade that easily shaves hair. Out in the boonies I just use my belt, also with good results. The key is doing good stone work before using the strop.

[George D. Stout]

I was worried when I opened this thread.  I thought, what the h e double hockey sticks is stroping.   Ahhhh, now I see...it's stropping.  Be careful where you drop a p.

[Hud]

I use the roughout side, then the leather (exterior)side with jeweler's rouge.

[dragon rider]

Shucks, I thought this was going about getting that special shine on the chrome for us bald guys.